mad weekend

Weekend started early last week. I took a half day off from the office and went to another item on my venue list. I was accompanied by my maid of honor throughout the process and it had been fun. I had my heart set on the place because it covered everything on my venue list, but the budget was tight. After considering whether we should visit the wedding exhibition at Kemayoran, I decided not to. Better drag the guy here first then to the exhibition. So, Vie and I decided to have lunch at somewhere ‘far’, after driving around Hayam Wuruk, Passer Baroe and around, we eventually reached Cikini but still had no idea what to eat for lunch, right then I spotted Vietopia and it wasn’t quite crowded yet, so we decided to have lunch there. Vietopia is a Vietnamese restaurant, I didn’t know what it was famous for, but had heard it mentioned couple of times. I swore I almost cried when I saw Pho Ga or Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup on the menu. I always love Pho, but the one near home only served Pho Bo or Beef Noodle Soup. The problem is I don’t really eat beef. The only beef I would enjoy is Bakso or meatball cause you know when the hawker sells it, the main ingredient is usually flour, instead of beef :p Anyway I ordered Pho Bo and Vie ordered Pho Ga. I had a mint blended ice for my drink (can’t remember what they call it there) and it tasted so refreshing. According to the waitress, it was mint leaves and apple blended with ice. A perfect drink for a hot day!

Pho Ga

The Drinks

Vietopia

to my surprise the price was quite decent, if I’m not mistaken the Pho Ga costs about 35k. The one near home was more expensive I think. The total bill was around 120k. Still reasonable, it’s not like we eat out every day, right?

Oh, shame on me, haven’t talked about how the food tasted. Tell you what, the Pho Ga was amazing! Prolly the best Pho Ga I’ve ever tasted (well, to be honest I’ve always eaten Pho in a chain restaurant, no comparison should be made :p) The chicken broth was so thick, I even didn’t add any more condiments like I usually do. Only squeezed in some lime juice they provided. The broth was thick but in a clear way, d’ya know what I mean? and the chicken, I think it was cooked for a long time because the meat was so tender. This is the kind of food I want to eat when I’m having a terrible flu and stuffed nose. Vie had no complaint about her Pho Bo. So I guess it tasted great also.

I do hope they have branch in north Jakarta :( cikini is quite far from my home.

Anyway, after quite a drama with The Guy and after settling our arguments and resolved the problems. We went to the wedding exhibition on Sunday to make our down payment to the venue we agreed on. YES, YOU READ IT CORRECTLY. WE HAVE FOUND THE VENUE FOR OUR WEDDING DAY! *wide grin* leave it to The Guy for price negotiation, honestly I thought the budget was quite tight, because I counted the published rate for the cheapest package. But he closed the deal, not only with the most expensive package, but also cheaper than the cheapest package on the list. plus we didn’t really have to add anything because we got the food stalls covered as bonus. And you know what, this is the cheapest price we got, after doing surveys on few places. I don’t know how he did it, but he did and *psst* it’s a hotel ballroom, and it’s totally not unheard of. our parents should be contented ;)

and you know what, if we keep going on at this rate, WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO MAKE THIS WEDDING WITHIN OUR BUDGET. The feeling of being able to pay for your own wedding without borrowing from your parents, family or relatives just feels GREAT! I feel so proud for both of us. What we’ve got might not be as great as what those couples (with their parents’ money) got, but we’ve got what we need and most importantly we did together, just both of us and we are able to fulfill our parents expectations. (and I do feel like bragging about this! Ha!)

well, lotsa little things are on their way. wish us the best! gotta make this work. :D